Plus One Lap used to be all about cyclocross, now it's my dumping grounds for anything cycling.

Friday, March 10, 2006

My Carbon brakes are done! 63 grams a pair!

So, I think I did it. The lightest cantilever brakes ever? Well these came in at 63 grams for the pair, with all hardware. In the end, this pair of Custom Carbon Cantilevers (3C) came out looking pretty good I think. And for the weight of 63 grams, it is lighter than any cantilever I have ever seen before. One way I was able to get them so light was to tune the brake pads. As you might have noticed, I used road brake pads. I dont see why one wouldnt use road brake pads. If you look at any of the top 10 bikes on www.lightbikes.com, you'll see that they are all using tuned road pads. Also, a number of mountain bike riders on Weight Weenies are using road pads on their mtb bikes. And I did tune these pads too. Aluminum carrier bolt, I fabricated a small aluminum nut to place on the inside of the carrier and some nylon washers later and the weight for the pair of my pads came in at about 23 grams. Compare this to a pair of kool stop v brake pads which weigh 56 grams (just for the pads) And my brakes are as if there is nothing there. Also, the titanium springs lightened the load a little more. Although, most of the weight savings came from the carbon arms themselves, which combined weigh less than 1 Paul NeoRetro brake arm. Lets just hope they stop me as well. I am going to put these on my rear wheel to test at first, and if they hold up will make another pair for the front. For the front wheel, I'll probably go with a titanium carrier bolt instead of aluminum. Ride report still to come...